1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device and a camera and, more specifically, to a solid-state imaging device suitable for high-speed imaging and a camera using such a solid-state imaging device as an imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a high-speed imaging mode of a business-use camera or the like, n-fold-speed imaging is realized by simply increasing the drive frequency of a solid-state imaging device to n times that in a normal imaging mode.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a CCD solid-state imaging device of what is called an all pixels independent reading type which is capable of independently reading out signal charges of all pixels is equipped with two systems of horizontal transfer sections 101 and 102 for the purpose of serially outputting signal charges of two lines at the same time without changing the horizontal transfer frequency. It has been proposed to realize, for instance, a 4-fold-speed imaging mode by utilizing the above function.
However, in the former case, the drive frequency of the solid-state imaging device is increased by a factor of n, a post-stage signal processing system and a recording device need to be adapted accordingly and hence become very expensive. Thus, there is a problem that a consumer-use camera becomes very expensive if it employs this type of scheme.
In the latter case, an n-fold-speed operation can be realized without increasing the drive frequency or the like of a solid-state imaging device. However, in the case of a 4-fold-speed imaging mode, for instance, the imaging center (indicated by mark xe2x80x9cxxe2x80x9d in FIG. 1) is shifted to a bottom-left position in an imaging area 103 as shown in FIG. 1, which means a deviation of the optical center. This causes a problem that a camera is very poor in ease of operation in performing optical zooming, for instance.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems in the art, and an object of the invention is therefore to provide a solid-state imaging device which can realize high-speed imaging without increasing the drive frequency in a state that the center of an imaging area coincides with the optical center, as well as to provide a camera incorporating such a solid-state imaging device.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a solid-state imaging device comprising a plurality of sensor sections arranged in matrix form, for performing photoelectric conversion; a reading section for reading signal charges obtained through the photoelectric conversion in the plurality of sensor sections; vertical transfer sections for vertically transferring signal charges read out from the sensor sections by the reading section; a horizontal transfer section for horizontally transferring signal charges moved from the vertical transfer sections; and a transfer control section capable of preventing transfer of signal charges from the vertical transfer sections to the horizontal transfer section in a partial region in a horizontal direction.
In the solid-state imaging device having the above configuration, in a normal imaging mode, signal charges read out from the plurality of sensor sections by the reading section are moved to the horizontal transfer section as they are and then horizontally transferred there. On the other hand, in a high-speed imaging mode, part of signal charges read out to the vertical transfer sections in the partial region, for instance, both end regions, in the horizontal direction, are prevented by the transfer control section from being transferred to the horizontal transfer section. Signal charges generated only in the central region in the horizontal direction are moved to the horizontal transfer section and then horizontally transferred there.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a solid-state imaging device comprising a plurality of sensor sections arranged in matrix form, for performing photoelectric conversion; a reading section for reading signal charges obtained through the photoelectric conversion in the plurality of sensor sections, the reading section being capable of reading out signal charges only in a partial region in a vertical direction; vertical transfer sections for vertically transferring signal charges read out from the sensor sections by the reading section; and a horizontal transfer section for horizontally transferring signal charges moved from the vertical transfer sections.
In the solid-state imaging device having the above configuration, in a normal imaging mode, signal charges in all sensor sections are read out to the vertical transfer sections by the reading section and output via the horizontal transfer section. On the other hand, in a high-speed imaging mode, signal charges only in the partial region in the vertical direction are read out to the vertical transfer sections by the reading section and output via the horizontal transfer section. As a result, there is no need for performing an operation of vertically transferring at high speed signal charges in the other region in the vertical direction.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a solid-state imaging device comprising an imaging area having a plurality of sensor sections arranged in matrix form for performing photoelectric conversion, and vertical transfer sections for vertically transferring signal charges read out from the sensor sections; and an optical black area having a plurality of sensor sections that are optically shielded, and vertical transfer sections for vertically transferring charges read out from the sensor sections, the optical black area being disposed at a given interval from the imaging area.
In the solid-state imaging device having the above configuration, since the optical black area is disposed at a given interval from the imaging area, a blank area is interposed in between. The existence of the blank area prevents leakage of light due to, for instance, inclined incidence of light on sensor sections in a peripheral portion of the optical black area. In addition, the optical black area can be used as a wiring area.